Plot thickens over Lancaster Wetherspoon future

A Wetherspoon pub worker claims staff were told by management that the Green Ayre in Lancaster would definitely not be re-opening again.
The Green Ayre pub, Lancaster.The Green Ayre pub, Lancaster.
The Green Ayre pub, Lancaster.

The employee, who does not work at the North Road pub, said staff were called into a meeting on March 9 with a Wetherspoon senior manager, where they were told the pub would be shut for good.

A former member of staff is then reported to have taken to Facebook, using the Green Ayre’s official page to announce the pub would not reopen, and thanking people for their custom.

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But a Wetherspoon spokesman told the Lancaster Guardian that the post was incorrect, and that the intention was to reopen the pub, although there was no timescale for this.

The employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “Staff were told that the Wetherspoon would not be reopening during a meeting on March 9 and not to discuss it with anyone.”

Eddie Gershon, Wetherspoon spokesman, said the company’s position had not changed and did not wish to comment further.

He told the Lancaster Guardian last week: “The post relating to the pub not reopening was put on Facebook by a former employee of the pub and is incorrect.

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“The situation is that the premises are still drying out and taking longer to do so than we anticipated.

“Since the pub shut, staff from the Green Ayre have been working in nearby Wetherspoon pubs.

“We informed them that as any reopening would be much further away than first thought, that Wetherspoon would need to relocate some to other Wetherspoon pubs and not just the ones they had been working in, in recent months.

“It is our intention to reopen the pub, but we do not have a timescale on this.”

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